Hey guys, I am kind of new to this.. both the pcsx2 emulator, and making forums posts haha. However, I appreciate your help for simply just viewing this post, so thanks <3 <3

The problem is as the subject says, I am experiencing lag and low fps. The games are still playable, however, very very laggy and many objects in the game change colour and texture.

I am getting a fps of 30 or less, the majority of the time it is less. I usually receive a fps of 50 but nothing higher on loading screens and main option screens, however, as soon as i get into any game play the game/s will lag.

I understand that this emulator requires a good processor and i have noticed through observing some CPU and GPU gadgets on my computer that the CPU is almost at 100% most the time and fluctuates alot from about 50%-100%. The RAM stays at around 50% (with about 30% for anti virus), and the GPU is usually around 20-30%, so as far as im concerned the problem here is my CPU.

I believed that 3.6 GHz with 4 cores was a good enough processor to run this emulator. Also i am playing game such as Ratchet and Clank 3, Star Wars:Battlefront 2, and Crash Tag Team Racing, all on iso because i cannot get disc working atm (if that makes any difference).

P.s. Thank you in advance for any help guys, It is really appreciated.

Quote:I believed that 3.6 GHz with 4 cores was a good enough processor to run this emulator. (also i am playing game such as Ratchet and Clank 3, Star Wars:Battlefront 2, and Crash Tag Team Racing, if that makes any difference)

it is powerful enough, as long as it's not a crappy AMD Faildozer.
Unfortunately, this architecture is a real pain to use for gaming and CPU-intensive emulation (like pcsx2)

FX4100 was indeed not good for single thread (most important) performance. The proof is here on the FFX-2 benchmark thread. It scored quite poorly for its clock speed. Piledriver CPUs are about 20% better at the same clock (tied with Phenom II)!

As a user of faildozer (albeit I love it ) I can say that overclocking helps a bit, of course but doesn't do much to solve the main problem that is the modules load balance, it's main flaw.

Late Windows do better job avoiding similar tasks trying to run on cores in same module, what helps a lot more than OC itself, but don't really solves the problem. The improvement from Piledriver was exactly in that feature, not solved the architectural issue yet but was a major performance increase.

So yes, even the Phenom II performs better than bulldozer clock by clock on PCSX2 due to it's lightly threaded nature.

I am a little confused on all this faildozer talk and unsure whether people are just reinstating that "amd is crap compared to intel" or that the CPU i have is just one of those minority in crap products occasionally made and that this series just doesnt work well with the emulator and/or in general.

Also, you blokes were talking about the Piledriver Series, Phenom II, The MTVU Hack, and overclocking my current cpu, and i am just curious what would be the best choice for me regarding what is a good CPU that will run this emulator (even with more intensive games) very well and have no issues with low fps or laggy gameplay.

I will focus on doing the mtvu hack and overclocking atm but in the long term i will look on buying another CPU because i don't mind purchasing another CPU, i just want to make sure i buy one that will manage this emulator with no problems without having to buy the best CPU on the market and spend 500$ more than i would need to (best buy for your buck kinda thing, just capable of running the emulator with no problems).

(04-16-2013, 11:38 PM)Llama Cheese Wrote: I am a little confused on all this faildozer talk and unsure whether people are just reinstating that "amd is crap compared to intel" or that the CPU i have is just one of those minority in crap products occasionally made and that this series just doesnt work well with the emulator and/or in general.

Also, you blokes were talking about the Piledriver Series, Phenom II, The MTVU Hack, and overclocking my current cpu, and i am just curious what would be the best choice for me regarding what is a good CPU that will run this emulator (even with more intensive games) very well and have no issues with low fps or laggy gameplay.

I will focus on doing the mtvu hack and overclocking atm but in the long term i will look on buying another CPU because i don't mind purchasing another CPU, i just want to make sure i buy one that will manage this emulator with no problems without having to buy the best CPU on the market and spend 500$ more than i would need to (best buy for your buck kinda thing, just capable of running the emulator with no problems).

Cheers, Llama

Sorry, with the faildozer talk I forgot to provide actual help attempts.

The problem is some games are really demanding and bulldozer is not good at sharing the cores at the same module, so there are two modules in your machine and when the 3rtd core is used it could cause more delay on the process than not using it at all sometimes.

But there is what to attempt in your case indeed, first put the upscale at GSDX config at 2x, native is not going to do good with that GPU.

Then go to the speedhacks window and push EE cyclerate to 2 (it's middle point). Push VU cycle stealing to 2 also, this will be the basic setup for your machine and should resolve the problem for most games.

Some games don't like certain speed hacks and some are more lenient, you may want to reduce VU cyclestealing if the game feels laggy and sluggish despite higher FPS, and should try reducing EE cyclerate if getting sound problems.

Conversely, some games may still run slow, then try increasing those speedhacks.

Finally, you could attempt to enable MTVU but my experience with it in most games is more harming than helping, try and see how it fares for your system.

PS: the machine should be performing better, what leads to the belief you may be stressing the GS, above 3x upscale may be cause of performance loss in this case, avoid the plugin's AA and other post processing and options in there, except if pointed to do so in specific cases.

Another thing, create a profile for PCSX2 at the Nvidia control panel and make sure the vsync is forced off on it, avoid the adaptive methods also.

Lately has been reported and suggested by refraction (one the emulator's developers) the use of a 4gb patch on pcsx2.exe, search for it in the web.

In the speed hacks screen i enabled all the recommended hacks including mtvu, however, should i just toggle with mtvu and disable all the other recommended ones i messed with?

Also Thankyou for all the help hopefully it works, until i get round to getting a new CPU.

(04-17-2013, 02:45 AM)DaTankAC Wrote: fx4300 or 6300 is a great choice for upgrading. it runs all my games without problems. steamroller changes coming later promise to fix the modules crappy system they have now.

The steamroller changes are they promising to fix the crappy system for my FX-4100 right? So if i want an immediate solution then i should buy one of those CPU's or just be patient for another update you are saying?